At The Mercy Of The Accrington Undertaker
During the year of 1904 it was necessary for the Holden family, who had lived in various houses in the Accrington area, to move to a small cottage at Sallar’s Fold, Hapton. With a newly born child to care for besides a couple of school aged children and due to economic difficulties, the family purse was hard pressed and Mrs. Holden, who was of fragile constitution, was not in the best of health.
On the Thursday before Christmas she had disturbed a couple of poultry thieves, and in their haste to flee she had been knocked down in the rough and tumble that followed, receiving a blow to the head. Her wound was only superficial but the incident had clearly unnerved the woman and, when she seemed no better a week later, a local doctor was called to attend her. The doctor told her husband that she was very poorly and needed nursing and nourishment. The doctor was concerned about her lack of proper food and he returned on the Sunday to check on her condition.
The doctor found Mrs. Holden still in bed and her condition was considerably worse, so much so that the doctor told her husband that the woman must have continual care and that he needed to get some assistance to help with nursing her. Before Doctor Shotton left he told the husband that it would take his wife all her strength and time to pull through.
Following the doctor’s visit Holden made an effort to get someone to nurse his wife, but failed. Consequently he devoted his own time to her care, managing to get a neighbour to take care of the infant. That night the husband kept a lone vigil at her bedside and at about four o’clock in the morning his wife awoke and asked for a glass of water. When he returned from the kitchen with the drink, he got no response when he spoke to her and when he touched her she felt cold. Upon close examination it appeared that the woman’s heart had stopped beating and her life had ended.
Mr. Holden, who was his wife’s second husband, was deeply distressed although not completely shocked by her sudden demise. With apparently nothing to be done for the woman he wasted no time in washing her face and combing her hair before laying her out in an upstairs room until later in the morning.
Early on Monday morning Holden called at the surgery of Dr. Shotton and told him of his wife’s death. The doctor was not surprised and at once made out the death certificate attributing heart failure as the cause. Mr. Holden’s next task was to inform the undertaker, Mr. James Waddington of Accrington, that he was required. Meanwhile, Doctor Shotton was in conversation with another patient in his surgery at Huuncoat and he learnt from this man of Mrs. Holden’s recent ordeal with the poultry thieves. Feeling that this could have had some bearing on her death the doctor at once issued instructions to have the death certificate withdrawn and the police informed.
This particular Monday was one of the coldest and wildest days for some time and the undertaker wrapped up well for his visit to the isolated cottage. When he arrived Mr. Holden took him upstairs to the room where his wife had been laid out some nine hours earlier. When Mr. Waddington entered the dearth chamber he found the body almost icy cold. It was laid out on a mattress and covered by just a single cotton sheet. The light was bad on this winter’s afternoon and he asked Mr. Holden to remove a shawl, acting as a makeshift curtain in that room, from the window
The undertaker then took out his tape and measured the length of the body. As he was measuring the distance across the woman’s chest he noticed the twitching of an eyelid. He looked again, closer this time. Yes, it was repeated. Was the woman alive, he asked himself? He quickly placed his hand over the region of the heart and he felt a slight flutter. He was now convinced that the woman still lived. He then began to rub her limbs, breath air into her nostrils, wrap his coat around her and before long he was rewarded by significant signs of animation. The limbs began to move and soon the undertaker’s hand was grasped. The husband was at once despatched for some brandy which the woman quickly drank.
The two men then hastily took the woman downstairs to the warmth of the fireside. Though fraught from her ordeal the woman began to improve by the minute and, as the cold chill was replaced by warmth, colour began to return to her sallow cheeks and a glow of life was apparent.
A little later a police officer from Hapton called following the discussions with the doctor and to his surprise he saw a woman restored to life rather than the expected corpse. The news soon travelled around the neighbourhood and all were keen to make sure that the life saved by the undertaker was preserved.
By the following morning the thirty years old Mrs. Holden had all the care and attention she needed. When Doctor Shotton called that Tuesday morning he was delighted with his patient’s progress and was told of the kindness of the people of the neighbouring farms and from the Griffin Inn who were all eager to assist. A knock on the door heralded the arrival of a couple of neighbours, one bearing a pot of beef tea and the other a tray of freshly baked bread, just the kind of strength building food his patient needed.
The next caller was the undertaker, Mr. Waddington, and never had one of his calling been so welcome. Mrs. Holden regarded him as her saviour and she extending her hand from beneath her quilt to greet him. Although she couldn’t speak louder than a whisper she said to him, “Thank you, so very much.” This was the man who had saved her from being buried alive and for that she would be for ever grateful.
Local Historian
Keith Johnson 2005